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Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

Raffaella De Laurentiis Productions

Universal Pictures

Dragon Productions

Orange Sky Golden Harvest

Hong Kong

United States of America

广州话 / 廣州話

English

Jason Scott Lee

Lauren Holly

Robert Wagner

Michael Learned

Nancy Kwan

Lim Kay Tong

Ric Young

Wang Luoyong

Sterling Macer Jr.

Sven-Ole Thorsen

Ong Soo Han

Eric Bruskotter

Aki Aleong

Chao-Li Chi

Sam Hau

Iain M. Parker

Michelle Tennant

Clyde Kusatsu

Alicia Tao

Kong Kwong-Keung

Go Shut-Fung

Chan Tat-Kwong

John Lacy

Harry Stanback

Michael Cudlitz

Forry Smith

Sean Stanek

Van Williams

Alan Eugster

Paul Raci

Ed Parker Jr.

Shannon Lee

Robert Garrett

Lala Sloatman

Fu Suk Han

Nick Brandon

Louis Turenne

Paul Mantee

Jonathan Penner

Jan Solomita

Shannon Uno

Rob Cohen

Pamela Holt

Mark King

Johnny Mask

John Cheung Ng-Long

Johnny Cheung Wa

Linda Lee Cadwell

Edward Khmara

John Raffo

John Badham

Raffaella De Laurentiis

Dan York

Randy Edelman

David Eggby

Peter Amundson

Robert Clouse

Clint Cadinha

Jerry Poteet

Fran Joseph

Dane Junod

Cal Bartlett

Steven Lambert

Merritt Yohnka

Dane Farwell

Kelly Breidenbach

Hester Hargett

Rick Nathanson

Charles Wang

Janet Hirshenson

Jane Jenkins

Bob Ziembicki

Ted Berner

Dayna Lee

Carol Ramsey

Wan Allen

Philip Lee

Susanna Griffith

Mia Levinson

Deirdre Horgan

Dan Perri

A celebration of the inimitable Bruce Lee and what he represented

RELEASED IN 1993 and directed by Rob Cohen, " Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" stars Jason Scott Lee as the martial arts superstar, tracing his early life in Hong Kong to his fresh start in the San Francisco area where he starts a martial arts school, meets his babe (Lauren Holly) and moves on to TV and Film. He must boldly face many enemies along the way, including his childhood demon. 

This is basically a rags-to-riches flick and ranks with my favorite films due to its excellent meshing of dynamism, fun and potent drama. I haven’t seen too many martial arts flicks, but “Dragon” is easily the all-around best of those I’ve seen. It mixes real-life with Hollywood mythmaking, which is what many cinematic biographies do, e.g. "Buffalo Bill" (1944) and "Braveheart" (1995). In these types of movies the gist of the story is true, but it's mixed with numerous fictional or even fantastical elements to make the protagonist a larger-than-life hero, but also to entertain the audience because real-life is always more mundane and therefore dull. And movies are made primarily to make money through entertaining, not to relay the truth in exact detail. 

Right from the get-go the film telegraphs that it's a mythmaking account when Bruce takes on the arrogant British sailors at a dance. He throws one of them and the sailor topples 3-4 other men accompanied by the sound of a bowling ball striking pins (lol). While this particular episode never happened, occasions LIKE IT did, even if it was to someone other than Bruce. The same is true with other sequences, like the fight in the gym, which never happened. But, again, events LIKE IT have.   

The movie is really meant as a celebration of Bruce Lee, his phenomenal expertise in martial arts and the genre he made popular. If you're looking for an actual biography of his life check out the two biographies listed below (under “WRITERS”). 

Speaking of which, “Dragon” was partially based on the autobiography of Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce’s wife). Someone offered that she couldn’t possibly have been happy with the film since so much of it is fiction (for instance, Bruce didn’t injure his back as depicted, but via lifting weights). Actually, she was happy with the final picture. But why did she allow so many things to be embellished? Simple: Because the embellishing fed into the Bruce Lee legend from which she benefits.

In any case, there are a lot of martial arts thrills mixed with the drama with an exciting action scene occurring roughly every ten minutes. The film gives the protagonist & a few others power over time and space. Of course, one cannot do in real life many of the things these characters perform due to the restrictions imposed by Newton's Laws but, hey, it’s entertaining. This factor explains why “Dragon” has been criticized for springing from one thing to the next too quickly, never pausing long enough for any strong emotion to resonate or for us to feel we really know the man beyond his proverbs. I disagree; I sensed strong emotion on several occasions, like when Bruce exclaims to Linda: “You make be believe I can do anything” or when he wildly screams at her to leave his hospital room, not to mention his outstanding meltdown later in Hong Kong (I’ve had a few of those in my life, so I know).

Speaking of Linda, Lauren Holly is just mind-blowing in her physical prime.

THE MOVIE RUNS 2 hours and was shot in California (San Francisco, Los Angeles & Valencia), China (Macau) and Hong Kong. WRITERS: Three screenwriters wrote the script based on the biographies by Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew) and Robert Clouse (Bruce Lee: The Biography).

GRADE: A-

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Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

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Cast

Jason Scott Lee

Lauren Holly

Robert Wagner

Michael Learned

Nancy Kwan

Lim Kay Tong

Ric Young

Wang Luoyong

Sterling Macer Jr.

Sven-Ole Thorsen

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